.thanks Jeremy, you’re not looking so bad yourself. How’s the painting going....?”For the last few years Jeremy had been learning to paint from ...n eccentric Spanish woman with a house full of cats. Maybe I should be more of a doting wife but I was never able to share my husband’s passion for this particular hobby. Steve must have seen me involuntarily roll my eyes heavenwards as Jenny indulged Jeremy’s description of his latest oil on canvass.“I take it you’re not into all this arty farty. I'msmart. "Oh yeah. We need ta go 'n talk ta the scawy lady.She frowns harder. "No! I dun like haw. She's mean." But we hafta. She needs ta fix us." Something bad will happen if shedoesn't fix us."Wanna play?"I want to play. The tube is pretty. "Ok!" It's very important that I playwith the tube because it has yellow flowers on it. I jump down in thewater. I don't need the lady to fix me. I have a sister and a pretty tubeto play with. I'm going to play with it lots and lots.We yell and splash. The restof their entourage stood a good distance away, whispering and lookingover. Karen frowned and shifted back to Shayna, hoping the weirdo wouldhave a good answer. "I, uh, don't really remember. Why was I talking toyou, anyway?"Shayna shrugged, making no effort to explain. Bitch, Karen thought.Cecelia sighed impatiently. "Fuck it, Kar, let's just go. The guys arewaiting outside. We'll sort out your brain problems later."Karen nodded, still unsure of what she was doing there. Her left. Political corruption includes bribery, cronyism. kleptocracy. The economics of corruption include electoral fraud, legal plunder, nepotism, slush funds and political scandal.New Zealand ranks second in governmental corruption. Only Australia is ahead. The things the Australians do to the native population... One thing to remember is that writing leaves a traceable trail. Our bartender was over pricing the booze and pocketing the difference. The board didn’t care that he was collecting slip rent.